It is 2:30 in the morning and because of this damn journal, I cannot for the life of me fall asleep. I have a finished journal: printed, stapled and ready to hand in. But, I cannot get myself to turn in a subpar, make-shift piece of writing. So call me crazy, but I’m taking the time to re-write my reflection, full-heartedly and to the best of my abilities, so bear with me.
Fear, terror, dread; pretty accurate words to describe how I was feeling before I began this one hour of silence. Little did I know that actually writing my experience down would be the bane of my existence. There is a sense of vulnerability I disclose here, that is way beyond my comfort-zone. Before the experience I was already apprehensive as to where my mind would go. It can be a scary abyss in there and I had no interest in finding out where my attention would wonder. I knew it would be more intense than the previous endeavor of sixty minutes of listening in a public place. The difference between having noise and conversation there to distract the mind, and nothing but utter silence seemed daunting. Likewise, I unquestionably utilize noise, language and communication, fruitful of not, to fill the hole that silence offers.
In the Fiumara’s, The Other Side of Language, she quotes Sciacca, who suggests that, “silence has a weight . . . that we do not find in any words: it is heavy with everything that we have lived, are living now and everything that we shall experience” (Fiumara, 105). That right
09-09-2012 Day 1: I went to sleep at 1:00 am and woke up at 6:11 am. The dream was that my grandmother passed away and that I had nobody to confide in. It got to a point where I just went
I was not always in love with life as I am today. I was ashamed of who I was. Not ever the type of girl to look at the mirror, as a matter of fact, the thought alone repelled me. I was most definitely not the type of girl to keep journals or write in them, but lots has happened in the past year and I have so much to say. I’ve been slipping back to the past and I cannot seem to move forward. I’ve been told expressing how I feel helps then I won’t have so much regret. Therefore here it goes.
I have completed the sleep assessment and I am not surprise with the outcome it gave me. The results showed that my sleep habits could be better. Some days are better than others, but generally, I do wake up drowsy and hitting my alarm clock once or twice. I admit, I usually stay up on my phone past midnight like any other young adult. If it is not my phone that is keeping me up at night, it’s usually my mind reminding me of all the stress that may be going on in my life.
There are a few factors that are essential for life such as breathing or eating, but one of the most essential factor is sleep. Even though the amount of sleep people need differs from one individual to another, the fact is that eventually everyone needs to sleep. People know the importance of sleep, but due to the increased workload and the pressure of society people are getting less sleep. As a result, there has been an increase interest on the effects lack of sleep has on the mind especially the memory of a person. Many questions arose about the relationship between sleep and memory due to the fact most high school and college students have become sleep deprived. For example, does more sleep mean higher grades?
Did you ever awaken and find yourself unable to move? Perhaps you sensed a presence in your room or a pressure on your chest. This is sleep paralysis. It is a common disorder that affects millions of people. Most believe it occurs as we are on the edge of REM sleep. The disorder has been connected with such hallucinogenic events such as alien abduction or an evil presence. Sleep paralysis is an inability to move or speak, occasionally accompanied by hallucinations, for up to several minutes upon awakening or just before falling asleep.
Most people joke around about how important sleep is and they say things like: “If I don’t sleep right now I might die!”. But many people don’t know how true that statement can be or how important sleep really is. The amount of sleep you get is important and how much sleep you need varies depending on your age. Even naps can help people that have unusual sleeping schedules. Sleeping and napping give you the energy you need to go through the day, but over sleeping or napping can make you even more tired than you were before. Sleeping and napping is a very important thing you need to do to be healthy, to have enough energy to go through the day, and help you be more focused throughout the day.
“Insomnia is the inability to obtain adequate amount or quality of sleep. The difficulty can be with falling asleep, remaining asleep, or both” (“Insomnia Encyclopedia“). Sleeping is a major point in physically and mentally restoring yourself for the tasks ahead. Most people say that about eight hours of sleep is an adequate amount, however it differs from person to person depending on their sex, age, and health conditions. An estimated one-third of the population suffers from some form of insomnia. “In recent studies, a survey reported that 30% of American women and 20% of American men took medication to help them sleep during the course of a year” (“Insomnia”). The medications these people took are called
This can be overwhelming to the listener. Knowing when and how much to utilize silence is part of listening, one of the key skills of any musician. “Just because you can’t hear it doesn’t mean it’s not music”
“The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to, then forcing oneself to stay awake for days on end must surely come a close second.”
The silence drapes itself around me like an eminent cloak, Letting me feel a sense of reconciliation with the cold, Blinding darkness, still sitting unmoving on the concrete step. Lights flash on, allowing me to sweep my surroundings and
Recent research has proven that children just are not getting the sleep they need these days. Kids today seem to be doing poorer in school and have less attention spans. Most parents are not aware of a common problem effecting thousands of children in this country: sleep disorders. Parents often fail to follow there children's sleeping patterns which can result in some serious side effects if that child has a sleep disorder. A study done at Tulane University in New Orleans studied about 300 first graders that preformed poorly in school. They found that 18 per cent showed signs of a sleeping problem. The percentage of children with bad grades found to have sleeping problems
Each night without fail our eyes grow heavy and our minds tired, and dreaming we drag ourselves to bed and normally fall asleep quickly and peacefully off to dream land we go.
 The goal is to avoid, "clocks on collision," and to allow internal clocks to match external clocks, this is why night shifts are often on weekly rotation.
Insomnia affects almost half of adults living in America. (# 8, 2012) This is a shared sleeping disorder that many people across the universe are diagnosed with. Several causes of insomnia include exercising too much, stress, withdrawal from alcohol or a certain drug, physical circumstances, and diseases. People with insomnia usually have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep, which causes people to have poor-quality sleep, which will affect their mood, energy, and productiveness for the next day. (MediLexicon, Intl., 2012) More symptoms of insomnia include waking up earlier than needed, having trouble falling back asleep, and being in a bad mood the following day. Insomnia can cause many more problems such as weight
I chose to take a day of silence from 2:00 pm to 10:30 pm. This day of silence was done on my way home for Thanksgiving. I spent 2 hours in the car in complete silence, without music or any other imported noise, breaking every 30-45 minutes to stop and take a short walk as suggested by the instructions. The final hour in the car I played light classical music and hymns, to combat drowsiness. Then, after getting into the airport, I sat at my gate with noise canceling headphones in and read. I read from the Bible (both Ruth and Luke in their entirety) prior to my plane ride, Parker Palmer, and a novel called “Me Before You” that examines the life of a paralyzed man who wishes to commit doctor assisted suicide. My day of silence was completed exactly 30 minutes prior to landing in Albuquerque, New Mexico for Thanksgiving.